In the US, the long distance (inter-exchange) telephone carriers were deregulated in the past when the technology necessary to support multiple common carriers became available. Along the same line there is a growing public policy interest in deregulation of the local exchange carriers that provide the local telephone connection.
In the past an alternative local carrier would require new overlapping right-of-way approvals. This meant that the alternative carrier would require new pole space and trenching the streets for the new telephone company's wires. This was deemed not to be in the public interest and the local telephone system was thus regarded as a natural monopoly.
It would be desirable to add competition to the local telephone service market without the duplication that has heretofore been necessary to do so. It would also be desirable to offer telephone services from multiple carriers utilizing the existing wiring in homes and offices. The present invention provides such a system.